Mass. job training programs to see loss of stimulus, budget cuts

Wednesday

Apr 20, 2011 at 12:01 AMApr 20, 2011 at 7:22 PM

Even as unemployment remains stubbornly high, Massachusetts job training and placement programs face both federal budget cuts and the loss of stimulus funding that bolstered them through the recession.

David Riley

Even as unemployment remains stubbornly high, Massachusetts job training and placement programs face both federal budget cuts and the loss of stimulus funding that bolstered them through the recession.

State workforce development programs have received roughly $75 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), or the federal stimulus plan.

The largest portion of that money – $56 million to boost services mainly for low-income adults, youths and laid-off workers – has allowed the state to help an additional 18,000 people to get job training and other assistance, according to state labor officials.

This summer is the deadline to use most of that funding. At the same time, national labor groups say the Workforce Investment Act, which funds the same types of programs, faces cuts under the federal budget agreement recently reached by Congress and President Obama for the rest of this fiscal year.

Jennifer James, the state’s undersecretary of workforce development, called the combination of the end of stimulus cash and federal cuts “greatly concerning.”

Staff at some of the state’s One-Stop Career Centers echoed that worry.

Maryellen Brett, executive director of the South Shore Workforce Investment Board, said demand at career centers in Quincy and Plymouth has slowed since the recession’s peak, but they remain quite busy.

“I think if you walk into most career centers in the state, you’ll find there are still plenty of people that for them, there still isn’t a recovery,” Brett said. “Not yet.”

While the state’s career centers previously served a total of about 192,000 people a year, they saw that number climb to 211,000 last year, James said. Much of the stimulus money came through existing channels and strengthened programs the state already offered, she said.

“The ARRA funding has really helped us massively expand service delivery to a lot more folks who needed it because of the recession,” James said.

Youth training and job placement saw one of the largest boosts from the stimulus – $21.1 million.

Among other services, this allowed regional workforce boards across the state to place about 9,000 teens in summer jobs, according to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

Several regional workforce board directors said this type of funding was especially valuable. Normally, their boards receive no funding for summer-only jobs for youths, they said.

“For some kids, it was their first paid work experience,” said Nancy Brown, executive director of the Metro North Regional Employment Board, which serves 20 towns and cities north of Boston. “A lot of kids used it to help support their families.”

The youth program money came as youths faced greater competition from adults for a smaller pool of entry-level and seasonal jobs, workforce program directors said. And for young people, getting job experience early on can be crucial for a future career.

“We know from research that if you have work experience as a young person, you are more likely to be employed and at higher wages throughout your lifetime,” James said.

The stimulus plan also pumped about $12.7 million into Massachusetts to help “dislocated workers,” or people recently laid off, to get training and other services. Roughly 5,000 more people received services than would have under typical funding, the executive labor office said.

The state got an additional $4.9 million in special emergency grants through the stimulus to help more than 1,000 people laid off from specific companies. That includes many people in the financial, information and manufacturing sectors, and 197 people laid off from Jabil Circuit Inc.’s plant in Billerica in 2009.

Another $5.3 million helped expand a state team that works with companies to find ways to avert imminent layoffs or to quickly serve people about to lose their jobs, James said.

Roughly $8.6 million expanded the state’s workforce programs for low-income adults, ranging from more intensive case management to additional workshops to vouchers for college courses, James said. This benefited upward of an additional 2,500 people, she said.

“If you’re walking in with a sixth-grade reading level, for example, it’s going to provide money to help you go get your GED,” James said.

In a recession, people lacking up-to-date skills are more often bumped out of the job market by more skilled workers, said Mary Sarris, executive director of the North Shore Workforce Investment Board.

“Those would be people who are usually lower-skilled folks who struggle in any economy, let alone in a bad economy,” she said.

The stimulus delivered $8.4 million to the state to hold grant competitions to educate or train people in specific fields with job openings. The Metro North region, for example, held training in biotech manufacturing, allied health and becoming an nursing assistant, Brown said.

Another nearly $6 million went to training for clean energy sector jobs.

“We know from experience that people who go through training are much more likely to get jobs than people who don’t,” Sarris said. “So we do think this was a very wise investment at a very wise time. … We were very grateful that it came through when it did.”

Finally, the stimulus delivered about $8.1 million for additional staff at the state’s career centers. It was much needed, said Brett.

“There was a time there in ‘09 and parts of last year where career centers had lines going out the door,” Brett said. “There was a great demand for workforce development services. The stimulus funding definitely helped meet that demand.”

The stimulus helped many people with little hope of finding new jobs in their fields to retool their careers, James said. But the bulk of the funding that boosted Workforce Investment Act programs expires by June 30.